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slight misdiagnosis on my part -- it only fails if the 
*entire* directory tree already exists.  
 
"""
>>> os.makedirs('c:/temp/a/b/c')

>>> os.makedirs('c:/temp/a/b/c')

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<pyshell#64>", line 1, in -toplevel-
    os.makedirs('c:/temp/a/b/c')
  File "C:\Python24\lib\orig_os.py", line 159, in makedirs
    mkdir(name, mode)
OSError: [Errno 17] File exists: 'c:/temp/a/b/c'
"""

My use case was generating java files in the proper package 
- and possibly regenerating them if something changed.  I 
want to put them in the right directory, which will usually 
(but not always) already exist.

The patch still works, but I now wonder if it might be 
better to put a guard at the top along the lines of "if 
path.exists(name): return" (or something fancier to ensure 
that it is a directory with appropriate permissions).